Open All the Way to the Top

[Max Goose]

Going to the very top of one of the castle's four towers was something Max had wanted to do the moment he saw the castle's silhouette for the first time. Actually doing it was something he immediately regretted when he started walking up the many stairs that would eventually lead up to the North Tower. It wasn't even that he was out of shape, he couldn't be with all that football practice he had done before leaving the Muggle world behind, there were just really a lot of stairs to climb. The only positive thing he could think of from walking this many stairs was that he was really getting familiar with which steps to skip or just to avoid at all since they had a tendency to be quite slippery - probably the work of the poltergeist he had heard so much about already. Going to the very top of the castle also helped in getting to know it better, which was going to help a lot throughout the first few weeks. A little out of breath from all the stairs, the Gryffindor reached the top after what felt like forever. He suddenly pitied the Ravenclaws, who had to walk even further than the Gryffindors to reach their common room. One glance out of the nearest window, however, was enough to make Max forget about skipping steps, poltergeists and pitying other houses. The view was unlike something he had ever seen before, and just like that, he didn't regret climbing all those stairs anymore.

 

[Ruto Vernier-Raison]

Ruto was amazed that she was finally within the walls of the giant castle she had heard so much about. She was sorted where her mother had been, which was definitely a relief, and a choice that the sorting hat had taken into account whilst sorting her. She was away from her aunt and uncle, but it allowed her to keep being herself and there was less chance of her running into them when she didn't feel like talking to them. Being up in the towers felt amazing and Ruto knew she would be spending a lot of time up there. That morning she jumped out of bed, got herself dressed, then exited the common room to explore the towers a little more. As she entered the North Tower however, she noticed a familiar face from the sorting ceremony staring out of the window. "A lovely view, isn't it? Quite exhilarating if you ask me." she said, folding her arms across her chest as she stood next to him and looked out.

 

[Conan Burke]

Even though Conan was happy with where he was sorted, he didn't like where his common room was placed. Why did it have to be all the way at the top? It would take forever for him to make his way to the great hall to grab himself some food. It was tiring going up them on the first night after the sorting ceremony. He wasn't the fittest person. Conan was about to make his way down the castle when he noticed a couple of familiar faces from the ceremony. He frowned a little, as he then looked outside to see what they were looking at, as he stood behind them. "What exactly are we looking at?"

 

[Max Goose]

The view of the grounds and the castle's surroundings was something that made Max realise how enormous the school actually was and how much his father and cousin had played down the castle. He'd definitely be coming here more often if he could set aside his dislike of climbing the many steps. Max turned when he noticed that a girl was approaching him. He remembered her from the sorting ceremony but only because he thought that her name sounded funny. It wasn't a name he thought he had ever heard before but neither was the surname Goose, so he wasn't going to make a comment on the girl's name. He was well aware that having a funny name could sometimes lead to other people laughing about it. ''Oh, yeah, it's quite... whatever that word means,'' the Gryffindor answered with a slight frown. He wasn't sure if exhilarating meant something positive or not, but the girl seemed friendly enough, so he decided that it was. And then another student joined him in staring out of the window, though this one he had seen before the sorting ceremony. ''Hey, I know you! You were in the sandbox with me and that cat-poop girl!''.

 

[Ruto Vernier-Raison]

Ruto wrinkled her nose a little as the boy didn't seem to know what the word was that she said. No wonder the sorting hat eventually chose Ravenclaw for her over Gryffindor... Gryffindors definitely didn't seem the smartest, but Roo was happy to help him learn. She opened her mouth to tell him the meaning but wasn't able to get anything out as she was distracted by another first year that approached. She wasn't sure why, but his words made her quite annoyed. "What do you mean exactly? We are looking at the earth. The wonders of the universe!" she exclaimed, unsure how he didn't see the beauty in the scene. At the Gryffindor's words however, Roo raised her eyebrows, quite amused at this. "Cat-poop girl? Please, tell me more." She said, looking at both of the boys.

 

[Conan Burke]

Conan tilted his head to the side a little and frowned. "It's just the sky though? It's nice I guess" Conan says with a shrug. The sky was a bit boring, but he guessed there were times when the sky was nice looking, and today was just one of those days. He got a better look at his classmates, one girl he had recognised from his house though he whipped his head around to the other boy and nodded enthusiastically about their first meeting. "Cat-poop girl," Conan says with a laugh, his face turning into slight disgust as he remembered the memory. "Oh yeah! I remember you!" Conan says with a nod as he then points to the boy. "The Cat-Poop girl was telling us about how cats pooped in the sand when I was digging the sandbox to see if there were any shells" Conan explains, as he adjusted the shoe box that was under his arm, leaving room for the other boy to add on anything about the story if he wanted to. He was definitely going to call the unknown girl from the sandbox, "Cat-Poop Girl"

 

[Max Goose]

''Well, I wasn't really looking at the earth or the sky. I was taking in how enormous the grounds and the forest and the Quidditch pitch are,'' Max said truthfully when the other two began to argue about the view out of the window. If he was being honest, he didn't care at all how the sky looked, he was too busy taking the rest of the view in while he stood there. Looking up at the sky now, though, he did have to agree with the girl that there was a certain wonderous feeling about it. He grinned widely when the other boy seemed to remember the little girl he was talking about. ''And it wasn't as if we were asking for Cat-poop girl to give us that bit of information,'' the Gryffindor added. ''She just walked up to the sandbox and told us that cats like to poop in the sand. Safe to say that I haven't been in any sandboxes ever since.'' The thought of coming across cat poop while making sandcastles in a sandbox was enough to make him gag even now.

 

[Ruto Vernier-Raison]

Roo nodded as the Gryffindor boy told her what he was doing. It made sense. "I agree - everything here is so huge. It's going to take us forever to explore everything." she said, wondering if the boy had the same idea to explore everything before they graduated. She wouldn't be opposed to exploring with him as she could hopefully teach him a thing or two. She narrowed her eyes at the Ravenclaw, deciding to ignore his stupid comment. Perhaps not all Ravenclaws were as smart as she thought. As he spoke about the cat-poop girl, Roo nodded. "Well, that makes sense. Cats in fact do like pooping in sand. It's weird, but it's a cat thing." she said with a shrug. "I'm sorry she ruined your fun."

 

[Conan Burke]

Conan thought that the sky was boring. Nothing interesting at all. If he was looking at the sky, he'd usually see it when he was either bird-watching or looking at cloud shapes for fun. Though he did agree with the fact that the whole school grounds were huge. He frowned a little as she had told them that the fact about cats pooping in the sand was true. He knew that it was an actual fact. But he shrugged a little as the girl seemed to apologise for it happening. "It was ages ago, but you don't need to apologise. Wasn't your fault" Conan says with a small shrug, as he adjusted the shoe box that was under his arm.

 

[Max Goose]

Max was disgusted by the thoughts of cats pooping in the sand. He hadn't known this about cats before the girl in the sandbox had brought it up and had almost forgotten about it too until he saw Conan again. ''Right, so I'm gonna avoid every little patch of sand I come across from now on. Even at Hogwarts.'' A lot of people had brought cats with them to school and they would probably all have free rein on where to go and where to take poops. He could only hope that own his cat, Micky, was better behaved while roaming the school's grounds. ''Yeah, he's right, you didn't ruin anything, cat-poop girl did,'' The Gryffindor added with a reassuring smile. And then his eye fell upon the shoebox under Conan's arm. ''You've brought your shells with you to school, then?'' he asked curiously.